Flattery

In 1992, Kathy and I began looking for a house here in Chattanooga.  We were pre-approved for a rural housing FMHA loan and found a realtor in Ft. Oglethorpe who specialized in that type of a loan.  Mr. Frady worked hard to find us the perfect house … and he did.  Every time that I talked with him, which was frequent, he would be talking and right in the middle of a sentence he would stop, and with a dramatically sincere look, he would say, “You’re a good man, Mr. Whitely,” and then finish his sentence.  It seemed like Mr. Frady just sprinkled that phrase in his speaking with no apparent reason.  Several times, he would just say, “You’re a good man, Mr. Whitely.”  At first, I was honored and a little embarrassed.  But soon I realized that his phrase was just realtor talk.  He was just trying to flatter me.  The writer said in Psalm 78:36,”… they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues.”  Israel disobeyed God but tried to make it up by flattering Him with their tongues.  Mr. Frady never lied to me, but he did try to ingratiate me to him by his flattering words.  Hey, have you ever used insincere words?  Or, do you still use insincere words?  If you do, stop it … speak the truth.  Remember, God is watching and, most people aren’t that stupid.  They know when you are just flattering them.  And your flattery to them is not flattering to you.